Invisible Mars
Table of Contents
Background for Facilitator: Water on Mars
Background for Facilitator: MAVEN
Optional Materials
Tips for Facilitator
Additional Resources for Facilitator
Invisible Mars Script & Playlist
Playlist (Screenshot)
Earth-Mars Comparison Image Captions
Notes About Dry Ice Activity
2
7
9
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10
11
29
30
32
Background for Facilitator: Water on Mars
Introduction
Earth is unique in the Solar System because of the amount of water on its surface and because all three phases of water
(solid, liquid, and gas) are stable on its surface. However, Earth is not the only place water is found in the Solar System.
Other places have water too – including Mars.
Landscapes on Mars formed by water were first revealed up close by the Mariner 9 spacecraft in 1971. Since then, we
have found more and more evidence of a world shaped under the influence of water, and water ice is still present on and
just beneath the martian surface.
NASA is very interested in water because life as we know it requires water. The search for life often starts with a search
for water.
Water-Related Features on Mars
Mars has intricate networks of drainage channels, some which may
have been carved by rain that fell on our rusty-red neighbor (see
Figure 1). Thick layers of dusty carbon dioxide and water ice deposits
cap the poles, there is evidence of martian glaciers, and recent
impacts at lower latitudes have exposed water ice hiding just below
the rocky surface. Some martian gullies that appear to have been
carved by flowing water have shown recent activity. Mars also shows
evidence of floods from long ago that are a hundred times larger than
the largest known floods on Earth. There is evidence that there were
once lakes in some martian craters, and some of these lakes had
deltas in them. Deltas (see Earth-Mars comparison images in Invisible
Mars script) are exciting features to find on Mars because they form
over fairly long periods of time, meaning water had to be stable on the
Figure 1: This Viking 1 Orbiter image from 1976 shows Parana Valles, a valley network
in the Margaritifer Sinus region of Mars. Parana Valles is 350 kilometers (about 215
miles) long. Liquid water flowing over the surface of Mars likely carved its channels.
Image credit: NASA.
2 surface for sustained periods of time to form these features. Because they occur so quickly, floods and gullies do not
require a warmer, wetter climate to explain their existence. But features that take longer to form, such as deltas, do require
a different climate and thus a thicker earlier atmosphere.
The Phoenix lander, a mission sent to the high northern latitudes,
imaged ice disappearing as it sublimated (Figure 2) and provided
chemical evidence that water ice exists on Mars. Minerals and
sedimentary structures apparently formed or influenced by water
are found on the martian surface (such as those found by the
Opportunity rover, shown in Figure 3), and the Mars Science
Laboratory Curiosity rover captured images of pebbles that were
rounded and had been transported in an ancient martian
streambed.
Some evidence suggests that a vast ocean may have once
covered much of the northern hemisphere–though not all
scientists agree whether the evidence is strong enough to support
this hypothesis.
Figure 2: This pair of images of a trench dug by the Phoenix lander was captured by
th
th
Phoenix on June 15 and June 19, 2008 (the 20 and 24 martian days or “sols” that
Phoenix was operating on Mars). They show that ice (that appears white) is present
just beneath the Mars surface where Phoenix landed, and that it disappeared (by
sublimating) when exposed. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of
Arizona/Texas A&M University.
3 Figure 3: The image on the left shows the “Berry Bowl” rock captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in the Eagle Crater outcrop
on Mars. This sandstone rock is full of spherical grains (~4mm in diameter, on average) known as “blueberries” that contain a high
concentration of the iron-bearing element hematite. Scientists think that groundwater carrying dissolved iron percolated through the
sandstone and formed the “blueberries.” The circular feature in the center of the image was cleared of dust by Opportunity’s rock abrasion
tool’s brush so that Opportunity could separately analyze the mineralogy of the dust, the rock, and the blueberries, and confirm that the
chemical composition of the rock was significantly different than the chemical composition of the blueberries. Image credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell. The image on the right shows hematite concretions very similar to the martian “blueberries” found on the surface of the
Navajo sandstone at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Photo credit: Brenda Beitler
Earth-Mars Comparisons
We know that features on Mars were formed or influenced by water because we study similar features on Earth. Features
that share similar shapes tend to share similar histories – they usually formed by similar processes. The Earth-Mars
image comparisons included in Invisible Mars will allow you and your visitors to see how similar some water-related
features on Earth are to features on Mars.
4 What Happened to the Water?
The water-related features suggest that liquid water was once stable on the surface of Mars for fairly long periods of time
(something that is not true today), and that there was once quite a bit more water on the surface than we see today.
What happened to all of the water? Where did it go? The two places the water could have gone are down (into the crust)
or up (into the atmosphere). We do not see large enough concentrations of water, ice or rocks that trapped water in the
crust to explain the water-related features, so many scientists have shifted their search for the lost water from the ground
to the sky. We also do not see large concentrations of water in the martian atmosphere, but water that was once in the
atmosphere could have been lost to space, if it wasn’t protected or returned to the surface.
Along with their hunt for missing water, scientists are also hunting for missing carbon dioxide (CO2). Greater abundances
of carbon dioxide than we see in the polar ice caps and atmosphere today are expected to have been present with the
water, producing greenhouse warming that would have allowed liquid water to be present. This means the other half of the
question is: where did the carbon dioxide go? Again, we don’t see evidence for it in the crust (and we would expect to see
it if it were there), so we look to loss to space.
MAVEN
MAVEN will study the martian atmosphere, from close to the planet’s surface to high up in the outer reaches, to find out
the rate of loss of water and other gases from the atmosphere today and to determine what the loss rate might have been
in the past. Data from MAVEN will help scientists as they try to solve the mystery: what happened to the water on Mars?
References:
Baker, V. R., 2001. Water and the martian landscape. Nature 412, 228–236.
Banks et al., 2008. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) observations of glacial and periglacial
morphologies in the circum-Argyre Planitia highlands, Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 113, E12015.
Beitler, et al., June 16, 2004. Earth Has ‘Blueberries’ Like Mars. http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/earth-has039blueberries039-like-mars/
5 Byrne et al., 2009. Distribution of mid-latitude ground ice on Mars from new impact craters. Science 325, 1674–1676.
Chane et al., 2004. A possible terrestrial analogue for hematite concretions on Mars. Nature 429, 731–734.
Craddock, R. A., and A. D. Howard, 2002. The case for rainfall on a warm, wet early Mars, J. Geophys. Res., 107(E11),
5111.
Fishbaugh et al., 2010. First high-resolution stratigraphic column of the martian north polar layered deposits. Geophys.
Res. Lett. 37, L07201.
B. M. Jakosky and R. J. Philips, 2001. Mars’ volatile and climate history. Nature 412, 237–244.
Kieffer, H. H., Jakosky, B. M., Snyder, C. W., 1992. The planet Mars: from antiquity to present in Mars, Kieffer, H. H.,
Jakosky, B. M., Snyder, C. W., Matthews, M. S., eds., Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1–33.
McEwen et al., 2007. A Closer Look at Water-Related Geologic Activity on Mars. Science 317, 1706–1709.
Pondrelli et al., 2008. Evolution and depositional environments of the Eberswalde fan delta, Mars. Icarus 197, 2, 429–451.
Smith et al., 2009. H2O at the Phoenix Landing Site, Science, 325, 5936, 58–61.
Webster et al., November 10, 2008. Mars Phoenix Lander Finishes Successful Work on Red Planet.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20081110.html
Webster, G. and Browne, D., September 27, 2012. NASA Rover Finds Old Streambed on Martian Surface.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-305
JPL Photojournal, March 25, 2004. PIA05634: Discovery Served Up in a Bowl.
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05634
Mars Exploration Rovers, Goals: Mission Results. http://marsrover.nasa.gov/science/goal1-results.html
6 Background for Facilitator: MAVEN
What is MAVEN?
Previous missions to Mars have shown us that the atmosphere and climate have changed over time and have found
evidence of abundant liquid water on the surface billions of years ago, though not today. Scientists wish to understand the
processes that led to the instability of liquid water on the surface of Mars. A leading theory is that the martian atmosphere
was lost to space. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, mission will orbit Mars to explore how the
Sun may have stripped Mars of most of its atmosphere, turning a once possibly habitable planet into a cold and barren
desert world. MAVEN will address three questions:
•What is the current state of the upper atmosphere and what processes control it?
•What is the current escape rate and how does it relate to the controlling processes?
•What has the total loss to space been through time?
How will MAVEN answer the science questions?
The processes that control the loss of the martian atmosphere are
complex; different processes occur at different times and
geographical scales on the planet. Figure 4 illustrates the
processes occurring at Mars today. The role these processes have
played in the loss of the martian atmosphere over time is not well
constrained.
Figure 4: MAVEN measurements will help us to understand the escape of neutral (blue)
and charged (red) atmospheric particles from Mars. The measurements will constrain the
atmospheric reservoirs for loss, the escaping particles, and the drivers from the Sun that
control escape. By understanding the entire system today, MAVEN data can be used to
understand how these processes contributed to atmospheric loss in the past. This
diagram is not to scale.
7 MAVEN Takes Measurements
In order to answer the main science questions, MAVEN will carry three instrument suites - the Particles and Fields
Package (PFP), the Remote Sensing Package, and the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS). Together,
these instrument suites will measure the reservoirs of particles in the upper atmosphere (including their distribution,
composition, variability, and temperature), the particles escaping from the atmosphere, and the sunlight and particles from
the Sun (the solar wind) reaching the martian atmosphere. Each of the measurements fit together like a piece of a puzzle,
allowing MAVEN scientists to understand how atmospheric loss works ‘from start to finish’. This, in turn, will allow the
scientists to reconstruct how these same processes worked billions of years ago at Mars.
MAVEN Changes its Orbit
MAVEN’s job is complicated by the fact that measurements must be made both near and far from the planet in order to
characterize both the regions of the upper atmosphere from which particles escape, and the escaping particles that are
leaving the planet. Further, the MAVEN team expects the measurements to vary with location. For example, the
measurements MAVEN collects on the side of Mars facing the Sun will likely be different than the measurements it
collects on the side of Mars facing away from the Sun. Thus, it was important to design a spacecraft orbit that was
elliptical, and that moved with respect to the planet (precessed) over time (see Figure 4). MAVEN will pass through the
entire upper atmosphere in each orbit. It will also make special maneuvers to dip down into the well-mixed lower
atmosphere. MAVEN will sample all of the different atmospheric regions directly, in an orbit designed to ensure that
measurements are taken at as many possible combinations of time of day, location, and altitude as possible. MAVEN is
designed to operate for one Earth year. By the end of that year, scientists will have a better understanding of the state of
martian atmospheric loss than ever before.
Figure 5: A bird’s eye view of the MAVEN mission orbit showing
the relationship of the mission orbit (white) to Mars (red), and
interactions of the solar wind and the martian atmosphere (black
through blue). In this view, the Sun is off to the right.
Relationships between the orbit, scale of the planet, and scale of
solar/atmospheric interaction (Magnetosheath, magnetic pile up
region, wake) are not to scale.
8 Optional Materials
Laser pointer, for drawing attention to specific features within datasets (such as in Earth and Mars comparison images)
NOTE: Materials and notes about optional atmospheric loss dry ice activity are included in the Notes About Dry Ice
Activity on page 32.
Tips for Facilitator
In the script, there is an optional section where you may talk about recent discoveries from the Curiosity rover. If you
would like to include this information, mission updates may be found on the Curiosity website (listed on next page).
The last dataset in the script zooms out from Boulder, Colorado (the city where MAVEN’s Principal Investigator is based).
Facilitators may customize this dataset to zoom out from the city where your institution is based.
The MAVEN Education and Public Outreach Team will offer professional development webinars about the Invisible Mars
script and related Mars and MAVEN science topics. These webinars will be advertised through messages to members of
the NOAA Science On a Sphere Yahoo group (to join, visit website, listed on next page) and on the MAVEN Invisible Mars
Science On a Sphere webpage.
9 Additional Resources for Facilitator
MAVEN mission website: http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/
MAVEN Invisible Mars Science On a Sphere website:
http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/education-outreach/afterschoolsummer-programs/invisible-mars/
Curiosity mission website: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Mars Exploration Program website: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov
NOAA Science On a Sphere Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/noaasos/info
For more information about the magnetic field of Earth and the solar wind: http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/
For more information about the magnetic field of Mars: http://mgs-mager.gsfc.nasa.gov/Kids/magfield.html
10 MAVEN Invisible Mars SOS Script & Playlist
SCRIPT
PLAYLIST
Circling our Sun are eight planets, from Mercury on out to Neptune, each beautiful •
in its own way.
SOS: Planet diagram
Saturn has its lovely rings,
[Use a laser pointer to point to Saturn in PIP.]
and Jupiter is banded with colorful clouds.
[Use a laser pointer to point to Jupiter in PIP.]
But none is more beautiful than our own planet Earth.
11 Now, maybe I'm just saying that because I live here and I'm a little biased, but let's •
have a look:
SOS: Blue marble
A dazzling blue marble, painted with green and brown, and all wrapped up in
swirling white clouds…
The Earth—as far as we know—is the only planet in our Solar System that
supports life.
In general, the inner planets (Mercury and Venus) are too hot and the outer
planets (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are too cold, but, just like in
the story of Goldilocks, Earth is just right.
What do we mean by "just right"? Well, for one thing, scientists believe that you
can't have life without liquid water. And Earth is the only planet we know of that
has stable liquid water at its surface. At least today.
But do you think it's possible that a planet that is dry today may have had liquid
water in the past? Can conditions on a planet change over time? Yes, they can.
And there's one planet, in particular, that we think once had liquid water on its
surface. Do you know which one?
12 That's right: Mars.
•
SOS: Mars Red Planet
•
SOS: Watery Mars
This is what Mars looks like today. Dry.
But, millions of years ago, we think it was wetter, with flowing water, maybe even
lakes or oceans. Even if there weren’t oceans, most scientists agree that Mars
was wetter in the past.
How can we know that?
Well, scientists are really detectives—they solve mysteries by searching for
clues.
13 We've been observing Mars for thousands of years, but, for the longest time, it
was just a small reddish dot in the sky, which couldn't tell us very much.
•
SOS: Blurry Mars
… until 400 years ago, when a powerful new tool was invented for studying the
planets and stars. Do you know what it was?
[Take answers from audience.]
That's right: the telescope allowed us to see Mars more clearly.
As astronomers, like Schiaparelli, began to map Mars, they saw details like polar
ice caps, and lines that looked like canals—some people imagined they were built
by a martian civilization.
•
SOS: Pause Blurry Mars and
overlay map of Schiaparelli’s
canals, then fade out canals
and bring Mars into focus
Our telescopes got better, and we eventually developed a space program in order
to send spacecraft into space.
14 Over the past 50 years, we've sent spacecraft to all the planets of the Solar
System, which has let us extend our senses—so to speak—out into the Solar
System, to get an even closer look at the planets. Some of these spacecraft have
flown right by Mars, sending back pictures like postcards. Some have gone into
orbit around Mars. And some have even landed on its surface.
•
SOS: Mars Red Planet
The first successful NASA mission to Mars was called Mariner 4, launched in
1964. This spacecraft flew past Mars, collecting the first close-up photographs of
another planet, and we could observe more features than before with the
telescope.
•
Mariner PIP Other missions followed, and now, nearly 40 years later, the next upcoming
mission to Mars is MAVEN, which launched in 2013.
MAVEN will fly close to Mars to provide information about the Red Planet's
atmosphere, climate history and its potential for supporting life greater detail than
ever before.
15 There have also been spacecraft that have actually landed on Mars. How many of
you remember the rovers Spirit and Opportunity? These exploring rovers landed
on Mars in 2004. The primary mission for these rovers was only supposed to last
for 90 days, but nearly ten years later, Opportunity is still going!
•
PIP of Spirit/Opportunity
More recently, NASA landed another rover, called Curiosity, on Mars in August,
2012.
•
PIP: Photo of Curiosity And do you know what we've found? (some really cool stuff)
These spacecraft have found impact craters made by things like comets and
asteroids, a volcano that's three times taller than Mt. Everest, and we've even
confirmed that there's ice on Mars.
[Optional: Talk about most recent Curiosity discoveries.]
But you know what we haven't found? Lots of liquid water or canals. We haven't
found any signs of life yet.
16 •
SOS: Mars Red Planet
This is one of the newest images from the Curiosity rover, and you can see that—
today—Mars is desolate and dry.
•
But… there are some interesting features that tell us Mars once had liquid water
on the surface.
•
PIP: Overlay panorama image
from Curiosity
SOS: Mars Red Planet
Does anyone know how we came to that conclusion? How could we know that?
If there's not liquid water now, what could make us think there once was?
17 Well, what if we use Earth as an example?
•
SOS: Blue Marble No Clouds
Geologists have had a long time to study the surface of the Earth, up close and
hands-on. And we have a very good understanding of how things work here: how
the forces of nature, like wind, water and volcanoes, can shape the land.
Each process leaves behind different clues that tell us what happened in the past.
When scientists do their detective work, they study these clues. The clues can
reveal the difference, for example, between land features that were carved by
wind, and ones that were made by flowing water.
18 Let’s compare some black and white images taken from space of features on
Earth and Mars that were formed by flowing water.
•
SOS: Watery background
Audience Participation Activity
[Two options: Docent decides which to use, based on factors such as lighting in
SOS area and knowledge of their particular audience.
OPTION 1: Hand out labeled images A & C of Earth’s features and B & D images
of Mars features. (Or have handouts pre-placed underneath/on seats before show
starts.)
OPTION 2: Use PIPs to compare the images (instead of handouts).
For both options, have audience look at, discuss, and compare the images. Ask
the audience about their observations of each of the images, and ask guiding
questions that focus the audience’s attention on similarities in features.
Now that we’ve talked about some of our observations of these images, let’s talk
about what they show. Does anyone know what the features in these images are?
•
PIP (For Option 2): Fade in
photos of features on Earth
and Mars that were carved by
water [Take answers from the audience.]
That’s right, they are river and stream channels.
One image is from Earth and one is from Mars. Can you tell which picture is Earth and
which is Mars?
[Take guesses from the audience.]
Image A: Earth
19 This image shows river and stream channels in Yemen. The light-gray channels stand out
against the darker-gray surroundings. The streams start out in very small channels and
flow downhill to feed streams and rivers in larger and larger channels. This area of
Yemen is a desert. It receives only a little rain, but water still plays an important role in
shaping the landscape.
Image B: Mars
This Viking 1 Orbiter image from 1976 shows channels on Mars. The biggest channel is
350 kilometers (about 215 miles) long. It was likely carved by liquid water flowing over
the surface of Mars. The direction of flow in these channels would have been from image
right to image left.
20 Now let’s take a look at a second pair of images. Does anyone know what these
•
SOS: Watery background
•
PIP (For Option 2): Fade in
photos of features on Earth
and Mars that were carved by
water
images show?
[Take answers from the audience.]
That’s right, they are images of deltas. A delta is a landform that is formed at the
mouth of a river, where the river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, or reservoir.
Deltas are formed when sediment (like sand or mud or pebbles) carried from the river
settles out onto the lake bed or sea floor. Look at these two photos – you can see how
the delta in both pictures has the same shape. How many people think the image on the
left is Earth? How many people think it is Mars?
[Take answers from the audience.]
Image C: Earth
This is a black and white image of the Yukon Delta in southwestern Alaska. The squiggly
light gray lines are river and stream channels that bring water and sediment (like sand
and clay) from the Yukon River out towards the Bering Sea.
Image D: Mars
The Eberswalde Delta on Mars is a “fossil delta”—a delta that no longer has water
flowing through its channels. This delta is a very important feature on Mars because it
provides evidence that water flowed over the surface for a long period of time.
What we have learned here on Earth, we can apply to Mars. The same processes
21 that happen here on Earth can happen on other planets, too. So, when we look at
Mars and we see certain kinds of minerals and certain kinds of formations—like
stream channels and deltas—scientists can figure out that there was once water
flowing on the surface of Mars. But not anymore. Why?
Something must have changed.
Let's compare Earth and Mars again. And just for fun, let’s split the sphere in two:
half Earth, half Mars. Is there something about the Earth that might explain why
WE still have water and Mars doesn't?
•
SOS: Blue Marble/Red Planet
Mars
[Take guesses from the audience. Sample responses might include Earth is bigger and has more gravity. The audience may also notice that the Earth has visible clouds in this
dataset, while Mars does not.]
There are few clouds on Mars because it is so cold and dry. Water and clouds are
connected.
Do you think you would be able to breathe on Mars? No? Why not?
[Take guesses from the audience.]
22 That's right, Mars has a very thin atmosphere—less than 1% of Earth's. And the
Mars atmosphere would be toxic for humans.
In order to keep liquid water, a planet must have temperatures that are above
freezing. On Earth, we have natural “greenhouse warming” because of the carbon
dioxide and water in our atmosphere, which raises the temperatures here above
freezing. If Mars—a planet that is farther from the Sun than Earth—used to have
liquid water, it must also have had warmer temperatures. And, in order to have
warmer temperatures, it must also have had a thicker atmosphere early in its
history.
So, maybe we can figure out what happened to the water on Mars by asking a
different question:
What happened to Mars's atmosphere?
Let's put on our detective caps.
If Mars used to have a thicker atmosphere but doesn't anymore, what do you think
could have happened to it? Where could it go?
[Optional: Possible lighthearted suggested wording could include the following] Could it go….
to Disneyland? No. Could it go… to the grocery store? To…the bathroom? No.
Where could an atmosphere go?
[Docent starts slowly looking up, up… maybe a shrugging gesture that leads to
hands rising slowly up, too.]
Up! That's right. Or…
23 [gesturing, if necessary]
… down! Those are two possibilities.
DOWN means that maybe the atmosphere went down into the rocks and below
the surface. We have found evidence that this happened but we don’t know how
much of it happened. There are still some missing pieces to the puzzle. Another
possibility is that Mars's atmosphere escaped UP, into space.
You might not realize what a complicated thing an atmosphere is. I know it seems
like it's just the air we breathe, but it's actually a very complicated system that
stretches from the ground all the way up to space. And it interacts with a lot of
things.
For instance, if Mars's atmosphere is escaping UPwards, can you think of
anything up there that might affect it and help it escape? Maybe a familiar object
that affects all the planets? I'll give you a hint: it's the biggest object in the Solar
System, and it's very bright.
•
SOS: Sun (white light image
with sunspots)
[Take guesses from the audience. Identify “the Sun” as correct.]
That's right—the Sun.
24 In addition to light and heat, the Sun gives off a stream of charged particles called
the solar wind. Over time, perhaps, the solar wind could have stripped away most
of Mars’s atmosphere.
•
SOS: Sun (white light image
with sunspots)
•
PIP: Mars Atmosphere Loss
video running continuously
On the sphere right now, you see an animation of the solar wind stripping away
Mars’s atmosphere. The white particles represent the solar wind. See those blue
lines around Mars? Those represent Mars’s magnetic field. Mars used to have a
strong magnetic field which protected it from the solar wind. But something
happened to the magnetic field and without it, the solar wind stripped away
Mars’s atmosphere, turning the planet into the dry, cold planet it is today.
It may have happened kind of like this…
Atmosphere Loss Demonstration
[Have audience volunteer hold fan with docent holding dry ice on a plate.]
Can I have a volunteer come up and hold this fan?
I’m going to hold a chunk of dry ice.
The fan represents the solar wind. The dry ice represents Mars’s
atmosphere.
Notice how the wind from the fan blows away the gases from the dry ice.
This is similar to how the solar wind can blow away a planet’s atmosphere.
Think about Earth for a minute—we know Earth has an atmosphere. Why
doesn’t the solar wind strip away Earth’s atmosphere?
[Take different answers, guiding audience to the idea of Earth having some kind
of protection.] 25 Now I’m going to put a clear dome on top of the ice. [Put dome over top of dry ice on plate.]
Look at how the dry ice—representing the atmosphere—doesn’t blow away.
The dome represents the Earth’s protective magnetic field. The Earth’s
magnetic field is so strong that it deflects the solar wind. Aren’t you glad
we have such a great an invisible force field protecting us?
Without a strong magnetic field, Mars doesn’t have the same protection from the
solar wind that Earth has. The solar wind may have stripped away the martian
atmosphere.
•
SOS: Red Planet Mars
So, you can see there are important connections between a planet’s atmosphere,
its magnetic field, its water, and even the faraway Sun. It's a complicated system.
And, if one part changes, it can have serious effects on the other parts.
26 NASA wants to study all of these dimensions of the martian atmosphere, as well
as the way it interacts with its surroundings. To do this, NASA is preparing a new
mission called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution MissioN.
We'll just call it MAVEN, for short.
•
SOS: Red Planet Mars
MAVEN is an amazing spacecraft that will orbit Mars and study its atmosphere.
MAVEN will help us learn more about how Mars has changed through time, its
water and even how the surface has evolved.
With eight different scientific instruments onboard, MAVEN will make a variety of
measurements of light, magnetic fields, the solar wind, and more.
•
We hope MAVEN will help us solve the mystery of the missing atmosphere… like
a detective using a toolkit to solve a crime.
PIP: MAVEN spacecraft
MAVEN launched in the fall of 2013 and will travel for almost a year to get to Mars.
NASA will let you know as MAVEN starts sending information back to us.
27 Sometimes people wonder why we study things so far away. Why do you think?
What are some reasons? Do you think maybe it can tell us something that would
be useful back here on Earth?
•
SOS: Blue Marble
[Take responses from the audience.]
Yes. We believe the laws of nature are the same everywhere in the universe.
We use what we know about Earth to help us understand what we find on Mars.
And, then we use what we learn on Mars to help us better understand Earth and
other planets.
It's a big, beautiful, complicated, intertwining system.
And science is really about learning as much as we can about the world we live
in—our home.
•
PIP: Zoom out from city
location to Solar System [Note: the location in the script and within the zoom-out PIP can be customized by
individual SOS institutions.]
You may live in Boulder, but if you do, you also live in Colorado, and the United
States, and we all live on Earth. And we live in the Solar System, and in the Milky
Way Galaxy. And, if you take the biggest view, we live in the Universe. All of this
is our home. And we always want to know more about it.
We hope MAVEN will give us insight into what happened to the martian
atmosphere. But it may also raise some new questions—which is great! Scientists
love having a new mystery to solve!
So stay tuned…
28 Playlist (Screenshot):
29 MAVEN Invisible Mars Earth-Mars Comparison Image Captions
Note that all images are in black and white to allow easy comparison of features shown in the images, without the distraction of color.
This makes it a little trickier to tell which image is of a place on Earth and which image is of a place on Mars.
Image Pair One: Channels
Image A: Earth
This black and white image shows river and stream channels near Wadi Hadramawt in eastern Yemen. The light-gray channels
stand out against the darker-gray surroundings. The streams start out in very small channels and flow downhill to feed streams and
rivers in larger and larger channels. This area of Yemen receives only a little rain, but water still plays an important role in shaping the
landscape. The image was taken by NASA’s Terra satellite in 2008.
Image B: Mars
This Viking 1 Orbiter image from 1976 shows Parana Valles, a valley network in the Margaritifer Sinus region of Mars. Parana Valles
is 350 kilometers (about 215 miles) long. Liquid water flowing over the surface of Mars likely carved its channels.
Image Pair Two: Deltas
Image C: Earth
This is a black and white image of the Yukon Delta in southwestern Alaska. It was taken by NASA’s Landsat 7 satellite in 2002. The
squiggly light gray lines are river and stream channels that bring water and sediment (like sand and clay) from the Yukon River out
towards the Bering Sea. Because the Yukon is a fairly smooth, flat area, the river channels often change course and carve new
channels as they try to find the fastest route towards the sea. The light gray colors surrounding the delta show water with lots of
sediment in it. Farther from the delta, the darker gray colors show sea water that holds less sediment. The Yukon Delta is an
important habitat for waterfowl and migratory birds
30 Image D: Mars
The Eberswalde Delta is a “fossil delta” – a delta that no longer has water flowing through its channels. The dry channel floors, which
have been turned into rock, stick out above the surrounding landscape – the opposite of how you’d find them when the channels
formed. The Eberswalde Delta is a very important feature on Mars because it provides evidence that a liquid (most likely water)
flowed over the surface for a long period of time. It is one of the locations scientists considered sending the Mars Science Laboratory
Curiosity rover. This black and white image mosaic was taken by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and released in 2005.
For more information:
Channels in Yemen: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=35729
Terra: http://terra.nasa.gov
Channels in Margaritifer Sinus: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/vo1_084a47.html
Viking-1: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/viking/
Yukon Delta: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=72762
Landsat-7: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/landsat7.html
Eberswalde Delta: http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/eberswalde/
Mars Global Surveyor: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
31 NOTES ABOUT DRY ICE ACTIVITY (The Atmospheric Loss Demonstration):
The dry ice activity requires the following supplies:
• Pizza pan or plate
• Clear plastic dome (can be purchased online at http://www.themedecor.com/product.jsp?prodId=3874&catId=703.)
• Pair of gloves or oven mitts
• Fan or hair-dryer
• Block of dry ice
Dry ice can be purchased at many supermarkets. It is usually sold by the pound. The following information about how to
handle dry ice safely is taken from http://www.dryiceinfo.com.
HANDLING
Dry ice temperature is extremely cold at -109.3°F or -78.5°C. Always handle dry ice with care and wear protective cloth or
leather gloves whenever touching it. An oven mitt or towel will work. If touched briefly it is harmless, but prolonged contact
with the skin will freeze cells and cause injury similar to a burn.
STORAGE
Store dry ice in an insulated container. The thicker the insulation, the slower it will sublimate. Do not store dry ice in a
completely airtight container. The sublimation of dry ice to carbon dioxide gas will cause any airtight container to expand
or possibly explode. Keep proper air ventilation wherever dry ice is stored. Do not store dry ice in unventilated rooms,
cellars, autos or boat holds. The sublimated carbon dioxide gas will sink to low areas and replace oxygenated air. This
could cause suffocation if breathed exclusively. Do not store dry ice in a refrigerator freezer. The extremely cold
temperature will cause your thermostat to turn off the freezer. It will keep everything frozen in the freezer but it will be used
up at a faster rate. It is the perfect thing if your refrigerator breaks down in an emergency. There are also commercial
storage containers available.
VENTILATION
Normal air is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and only 0.035% carbon dioxide. If the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air
rises above 0.5%, carbon dioxide can become dangerous. Smaller concentrations can cause quicker breathing and
32 headaches but is otherwise not harmful. If dry ice has been in a closed auto, van, room, or walk-in, for more than 10
minutes, open doors and allow adequate ventilation before entering. Leave area containing dry ice if you start to pant and
breath quickly develop a headache or your fingernails or lips start to turn blue. This is the sign that you have breathed in
too much CO2 and not enough oxygen. Dry ice CO2 is heavier than air and will accumulate in low spaces. Do not enter
closed storage areas that have or have had stored dry ice before airing out completely.
PICK-UP TIME AND TRANSPORTING
Plan to pick up the dry ice as close to the time it is needed as possible. It sublimates at 10%, or 5 to 10 pounds every 24
hours, whichever is greater. Carry it in a well-insulated container such as an ice chest. If it is transported inside a car or
van for more than 15 minutes make sure there is fresh air.
BURN TREATMENT
Treat dry ice burns the same as a regular heat burns. See a doctor if the skin blisters or comes off. Otherwise if only red it
will heal in time as any other burn. Apply antibiotic ointment to prevent infection and bandage only if the burned skin area
needs to be protected. Two Material Safety Data Sheets available online can be accessed through the following links:
http://stores.biochem.uiowa.edu/Pages/dryicemsds.html
http://www.airgas.com/documents/pdf/001091.pdf
COUNTERTOPS
Do not leave dry ice on a tiled or solid surface countertop as the surface could crack due to the extreme cold.
DISPOSAL
Unwrap and leave dry ice at room temperature in a well-ventilated area. It will sublimate from a solid to a gas.
DO NOT leave dry ice unattended around children.
33